Helen has worked in higher education since 1991, and moving from Oxford to be HR Director at Sussex. She has been working for UHR since 2004, and works with the Executive Committee to lead the organisation. So if you want to get involved, have an idea, or are a new HR Director, then be sure to get in touch.
Naomi joined UHR in the summer of 2018 after having been an HR Director in the sector since 2002. She is passionate about the value and support that UHR and CPD can bring to the HR community. She has also served on the UHR Executive and is a fellow of the CIPD. Naomi works part time, so she may not respond immediately, but please get in touch.
Martin joined UHR in 2018 and works as communications officer across the full range of marketing and communications channels from social media and design to press and e-marketing. An English graduate from Reading University, he has worked in private sector and charity sector roles for organisations including Waterstone’s, the learning disability/mental health specialist Turning Point, and the UK’s national deafblind charity Sense.
Emma joined us in November 2021 at the same time as Sophie. They will be working on a range of projects, including some suggested by members and topics raised on our UHR discussion boards. Emma’s HR background includes over 15 years in reward and benefits, ER and advice in HE and FE, most recently at Salford and she’s likely to focus for UHR on reward, recognition and wellbeing. She’s also Policy Lead and Co-Vice Chair of CIPD Manchester; read her recent blog for Disability History Month. Emma tweets as @EmmaBrookesMcr.
Sophie joined us in November 2021 at the same time as Emma. They will be working on a range of projects, including some suggested by members and topics raised on our UHR discussion boards. Sophie’s spent 15 years in a range of HE professional services roles including HR and a secondment to Research England for the REF, and latterly as Senior Planning Officer at Loughborough, covering governance, projects and data work, HESA, EDI and HR datasets. She’s likely to explore how HR can use data better in decision making, and workforce planning (with HESPA). Sophie tweets using @SophieC_UHR.
Julie joined UHR in October 22, and works 0.6 FTE on all our UHR activities, events, projects and groups, including getting the weekly Rapid Round-up out to you all. She’s working remotely and looks forward to getting to know UHR and its members.
UHR is a special interest organisation of Professional HE Services Ltd. PHES is an umbrella company for membership organisations in higher education including AUDE, AULP, BUFDG, CHEIA, CUBO and HESPA. Being part of PHES means that we can call on the skills and expertise of the following members of the central services team:
Dominic joined PHES in 2014 and since then has worked closely with several new associations, their executive committees, and staff to welcome them to the Company. As Managing Director his priorities are to develop PHES to support the SIOs in the best way possible, to motivate and develop our people and ensure we operate first-class company governance.
Karen joined the PHES team towards the end of 2017 and is doing a great job of keeping our finances in order. Karen worked in the finance team at Loughborough University for 13 years, so has a great understanding of how the sector works. She manages the finances for AUDE alongside the other associations in PHES and as well as processing the day to day transactions, she also works with the respective treasurers to plan for the future.
Alex joined the PHES team in August 2019 as our first dedicated IT post. His role of ICT Manager is partly to deliver the IT strategy within PHES, to provide day to day support for staff, but also to help each association with their digital plans – such as new website developments, making the most out of the database and data analytics.
Jemma joined Professional HE Services (PHES) as Membership Officer in February 2018. She previously worked for ten years as Events Organiser for Loughborough University. In this role she planned and organised events of various kinds, from industry exhibitions and academic conferences to business seminars. Her role as Membership Officer for PHES includes events support, database management, approving new members, web content updates, advertising sector jobs and a host of other things, all for each of the PHES Special Interest Organisations (SIOs).
Ruth joined Professional HE Services (PHES) as Membership Officer in November 2018. She previously worked for four years as Finance Assistant at Imago Venues, part of Loughborough University. She has also worked in customer service and finance roles. Her role as Membership Officer for PHES includes events support, database management, approving new members, web content updates, advertising sector jobs and a host of other things, all for each of the PHES Special Interest Organisations (SIOs).
Scott joined PHES in 2023 to support all our associations with the delivery of online conferences and events. His primary focus will be virtual events, but he will also provide website and technical support to our staff when the conferences and events are not happening.
Andrea joined the PHES team in September 2023, having spent the best part of the last 14 years working in the Sporting Sector, having been the Finance Manager at British Triathlon and then subsequently at England Netball, both based on the Loughborough University Campus. She has also spent time working in the Finance Department at Loughborough University and Warwick University so has some sector knowledge. Andrea’s role is to support Karen Newcombe, the wider team and SIO’s in ensuring that the day-to-day finance transactions are processed in a timely efficient manner.
